More Support for Those Calling Al Dura Broadcast a Hoax

Ricki Hollander
CAMERA
15 June '10

Posted before Shabbat

On April 24, 2008, just a few weeks before the appeals court was to deliver its judgement on whether internet media monitor Philippe Karsenty was guilty of defaming France 2 (see "France 2 vs. Philippe Karsenty: The Appeal"), the French television pay channel, Canal+, broadcast a documentary defending Charles Enderlin/France 2 and impugning Philippe Karsenty. Broadcast on its weekly investigative program, Jeudi Investigation and entitled "Rumeurs, intox: les nouvelles guerres de l'info" ("Rumors, Brainwashing: The New Information Wars"), filmmaker Stéphane Malterre equated Philippe Karsenty's dissection of the France 2 broadcast and the conclusion that it was staged with the allegations of U.S. "truthers"—who argue that the 9/11 attack in New York was an "inside job" carried out by the U.S. government against its own citizens — and those of anti-Semites who accuse Zionists and Jews of being behind the 9/11 attack. The documentary accused Karsenty of manipulating information to support the "radical and extremist" perspective that the broadcast of Mohammed Al Dura's death on France 2 was staged.

Karsenty sued for defamation, and on June 10, 2010, Canal+ and the film production company were found guilty of slandering Karsenty. The judges concluded that filmmaker Stephane Malterre had ignored relevant evidence about the Al Dura hoax and demonstrated a lack of objectivity in sullying Karsenty's reputation.

This is another judicial win for Karsenty and the viewpoint that the footage of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy purportedly killed by Israelis was a media hoax.

For more details on the Al Dura affair, see "Mohammed Al Dura: Anatomy of a French Media Scandal" or "Timeline of the Al Dura Affair: A French Media Scandal"

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